The Dirty Dozen: the ultimate vintage military watch collection

There are many reasons to collect watches, and military watches hold more attraction than most. Of all the timepieces that saw service over the last 100 years, there is one group that stands out: The Dirty Dozen. Originally named W.W.W. (Waterproof Wrist Watch) by the Ministry of Defence, their popularity and charm has grown over the last ten years, with the Dirty Dozen name affectionately rising within the collectors’ circles the globe over.

In 1943, Commander Alan Brooks (later to become Field Marshal) saw the importance of having a general-use timepiece for the armed forces. Up until that point, almost all service watches were personal civilian items. A specification was soon drawn up; they were to be accurate, reliable, waterproof and shockproof. The watches would have a black dial, Arabic numerals, luminous hour and minute hands, luminous hour markers, a railroad minute track, shatterproof crystal and a stainless-steel case. Their power would come from a 15-jewel manual hand-wound movement.

With British watch factories concentrating on munitions and weapon manufacturing, requisition officers were sent off to Switzerland to find companies that could fulfil the order. In the end, twelve companies were found to fit the specific brief: Buren, Cyma, Eterna, Grana, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Lemania, Longines, IWC, Omega, Record, Timor, and Vertex. Of these, Vertex was the only British brand, but it also had factories in Switzerland.

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This picture and top image courtesy of Christopher Beccan for Watches of Knightsbridge. For more from Christopher, visit www.bexsonn.com

The very first of these timepiece were delivered late in 1944, however, the majority were delivered in 1945. Overall around 145,000 were delivered, and of these most stayed in service until the 1960s.

Now here is where it gets interesting for a collector. First of all, some of the 12 manufacturers only produced a small quantity, the smallest being Grana (around 1,000 pieces). Second, many of the watches were destroyed in the 1970s for having radium dials. What this means is that trying to collect all twelve is an incredibly difficult feat, often taking a lifetime to complete.

The other thing that makes the Dirty Dozen such an iconic collection is the relatively easy financial entry point. Many of them can be found in good condition from under £1,000, with the very rarest commanding £6,000 to £8,000. Add to this the romance that comes with a watch that made its legend on the fields and skies and seas of the Second World War, and you have a timepiece that is pure of purpose and with an unrivalled integrity.

Many people ask me what drove me to restart my great grandfather’s watch company Vertex. While there were many reasons, the primary captivation for me was the story of the Dirty Dozen watches, which subsequently became the focus of our first new watch in 40 years; the M100.

Paying homage to the original Vertex Cal 59 W.W.W., the M100 takes all the DNA of that timepiece and reimagines it for today’s market.

Don Cochrane is the owner of the Vertex Watch Company and the great grandson of the founder Claude Lyons.